Momentary Life
by Sugar-Laced-Lie
Summary: Tara Markov discovers she's an experiment and runs away. Starting a new adventure, where will her path lead her? Chpt III: Tara is in huge trouble but is it enough to bring back her powers and who is Gemini? Sp00
1. Prologue

**A/N: An alternate universe to my fic "Given" (it's on a temporary hiatus). That story was more BB-centric, this one is more Terra-centric and much more darker. Admittedly, it will lighten up by each chapter (I'm into happy endings).  
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**LEGAL STUFF: I don't own Teen Titans or any characters belonging to the DC universe and its comics and each respectfully belong to their own creators. **

**ENJOY!**

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_**PROLOGUE: What A Shame**_

Several chilling screams echoed eerily throughout the windy of city of Turrence as the ground began to crack, rumbling underneath the feet of hundreds of innocent human lives, soon to be lost of to the almighty power of the earth. Skyscrapers crumbled, giving way to powerful earthquakes, homes washed away by oncoming mudslides, and innocent people crushed by rocks weighing tons which had broken loose from the merciless mountains nearby. In the middle of this ill-fated city, a destructive tornado made of dirt, mud and shards of rock, held in its eye the instigator of destruction--a scared, hopeless girl. She screamed along with the inhabitants of the city, her eyes glowing a fervent gold as she fought to contain the mayhem around her by simply curling her legs towards her small chest and digging her fingernails deeply into her skull until it nearly drew blood.

"CONTROL YOURSELF!!" She yelled, "PLEASE! Please...please...AAAAAAAAAH!.!.!"

Tears streamed out of her eyes, carried upwards and away by the tornado as it made it mad destruction around its dominion. It was only when it had finally destroyed a nearby building into a pile of rubbles did its lust for devastation become satiated and ceased its mad parade, leaving in its wake a mere shadow of what it once was. The girl, who was floating safely high above the city, fell unconscious, her limp body falling helplessly into the mud. The splash and the sudden deprivation of oxygen shocked the girl awake as she made her descent into the thick abyss below. On the surface, a desperate open hand rips through the sludge, searching frantically for a solid object to pull its owner up with. After finding a large stable rock, a head quickly emerges coughing out flecks of wet dirt as she finally pulled herself on top of a relatively flat rock, which she later determined was actually the remains of a roof that was floating aimlessly on the mud.

"Mmmm," She lied on her piece of surface, her energy drained, her body weak, her endurance wasted. She merely laid there in a stupor, her body and clothes entirely soiled by mud, listening to the disturbing silence around her. It was only when her blue eyes laid their gaze upon a floating body--a man, slowly moving towards her, dead, did she finally react.

"No," She quickly pushed herself up, attempting to get away from it, "NOOOOOOO!"

Terrified, her hand suddenly reached it's way up to the ceiling and her world suddenly transformed itself into a small room; dark, calm, peaceful, and not full of mud. The wind, passing through a half open window, gently caressed her blond locks, making them frame around her pale and frightened face.

"Huh?" She looked around, "only...a dream?"

She shook her head, her her palm pressing into her sweaty forehead, "Mmmm, headache."

"Tara, are you okay, honey!?" A frantic mother barges into the room, her brows furrowed upwards into a worried expression.

"Y-yeah, just another bad dream, Mom," Tara groggily looked over to her mother as she sat up, "I-I have another headache, is there any medicine left?"

"Yes, of course baby," Tara's mother left promptly, leaving to retrieve her medication and a glass of water.

"Serah," a man stopped Tara's mother further down the hallway where the young teen couldn't hear, "was it another nightmare?"

"Yeah," Serah's lips twitched into an wicked smile, "I'm sure she's slowly recalling her memories."

The man, sharing the woman's excitement, replies, "It's only been a few months and she's already making rapid progress."

"Exactly, the professor will be pleased when she can finally remember everything," Serah sighs dreamily, pausing for a moment before adding, "and she regains her powers."

"I still don't understand what's so _precious_ about this experiment--she has Brion, doesn't she?" The man impatiently crossed his arms, looking at his watch, "I'm going to bed."

"She said that Brion wouldn't cooperate," Serah replied, shaking her head, "In fact, last I heard, he's become some sort of super hero."

"Ugh, just makes things more difficult for the rest of us," the man said before retiring into his bedroom.

"I better go get that medication," Serah spoke silently to herself as she headed downstairs.

Unbeknownst to them, Tara had followed her mother to help her find some headache medicine but much to her surprise, she ended up discovering the reason behind a blank past and a 'too good to be true' kind of lifestyle that she had been leading. The young girl slowly slid her feet across the hardwood floor, fighting tears of hurt and betrayal as she lowered herself to the floor, not knowing what to do next. She was scared, _I'm an experiment?_ she thought, not knowing what to make of this. Of what? For what? For whom? More specifically, who was The Professor? ...and Brion...oh, why did that name sound so familiar? Thinking about it only made Tara's headache worse, but to her, that was no longer important. She had to act quickly as she could hear footsteps slowly walking up the stairs, towards her bedroom, and she knew her _mom_ would be there soon. The blond had decided right then and there that she would no longer be a part of this experiment and would rebel against everything they wanted--she would not regain her memory and she would not obtain these powers they were talking so happily about.

"Tara?" Serah knocked on her daughter's bedroom door before entering, "are you okay honey?"

"Yeah, Mom," Tara was back in bed, forcing a weak smile, "did you find the medicine?"

"Of course I did, baby," Serah quickly gave Tara two mysterious pills and some water in which she had promptly swallowed as quickly as possible to no longer prolong the dull, throbbing pain she was experiencing.

"Thanks..."

"Is something the matter, sweety?"

"N-no..." Tara slowly snuggled back into bed, "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Will tell me that story about when I was little, growing up with you again?"

"Of course."

_**END PROLOGUE: What A Shame**_

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**A/N: Wow, you made it down here? Thanks!! Love it, hate it? Let me know by critiquing me (you don't need to be gentle) or leaving behind a nice little review. Please, no flames as I'm quite flammable :3**

**Later,  
::Sp00::  
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	2. If You Only Knew

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Teen Titans or any characters from the DC universe**

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Tara Markov sternly glared at the picture frame in her hands, angry tears spilled out from her eyes and splashed onto the glass protecting the photograph of a happy family of three huddled together for a group photo. _Fake. It was all fake! _She thought to herself, hurling the frame to the floor, shattering it to pieces. Tara furiously wiped her eyes dry with the sleeve of an old, oversized brown leather jacket and pulled the strap of a black backpack over her shoulder as she walked out of the house, swearing to herself to never look back.

_No regrets..._

Tara placed her backpack into the small casket of a yellow utility bicycle and proceeded to check the condition of the tires, seat and finally the handles. After having made sure that nothing was amiss, Tara hopped on, quickly riding out of her parents garage before they came back home from work and realized that their precious experiment was gone. The thought of her supposed parents brought about a disgusted look to her face as she made her way out of the neighborhood and into the evening streets of Jump City.

She didn't know where she would go, or where she should stay. Calling a friend was out of the question as she knew Serah and John, her supposed parent's names, would immediately begin to look for her precisely where her friends would be. What about the cops? No...if she went there, they would want an explanation and she couldn't very well tell them what she had overheard the few nights before--they would merely laugh and take her back home. The Titans? No, most definitely not them! Not only was there no violence or even evidence involved, Beast Boy would try to bring back her memories, and the thought of that actually happening brought terrifying chills down her spine. The changeling had already told her that this 'Terra' tried killing them, overtake a city in the name of a mastermind criminal and eventually caused an inactive volcano to rumble back to life, endangering thousands of innocent lives. At the time, she merely rolled her eyes at the idea of her being some sort of manic geomancer hellbent to destroy a city, but now, the mere thought just made her hairs stand on end.

_What if its true?_

_No, no, its not true! You are Tara--that's it. Just a regular schoolgirl..._

_...who'se also a precious experiment with dormant powers._

_Dammit!_ Tara forced her bike to a sudden halt, pushing it into a dark alleyway before putting her back up against the brick wall of some building. Trembling fingers pushed their way through her damp blonde locks as she tried to force back another oncoming headache. Tara shakingly took out a bottle of prescription medicine from the pocket of her black denim shorts and managed to swallow two giant pills that had fallen out of the bottle. She sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head back onto the brick wall as she waited for the medicine to take effect. After waiting for about fifteen minutes or so, she felt a sudden, undeniable feeling of being tired _Maybe if just closed my eyes..._ she thought to herself, slowly sliding to the concrete floor.

"My, my, what do we have here?" Tara's eyes fluttered open, wakened by a familiar voice. Upon looking around, she realized that it was now late at night--how many hours had passed? "I never imagined to see you unconscious out in an alleyway, doped up on drugs."

"W-who are you?" Tara looked toward the voice which could be heard within the dark depths of the alleyway. Much to her shock, Tara, herself came out into the faint light of a nearby flickering streetlight but the look on her face, half covered by blonde locks, was much more sinister and her body was tightly covered with bandages with some sort of armor plating over her chest, shoulders and hips.

"I'm Terra," the doppelganger said, "I'm you..."

"N-no, that's not true!" Tara covered her ears and quickly brought her knees to her chest so that she could hide her face, as if it would make her disappear from this mysterious girl. "Go away!!

"How, pitiful," Terra frowned, disappointed at this new version of herself, "you're so helpless, weak, and scared."

"I'm just a regular teenager," Tara whimpered quietly to the girl before her.

"No, you're Terra--you have powerful abilities that are beyond anyone's wildest imagination, you can bring down homes, destroy buildings, annihalate cities and best of all, kill people," Terra nearly purred at the end of her sentence with her wicked tone of voice .

"That's NOT true," Tara shook her head defiantly, "I won't let you tell me who I am!"

"Heh," Terra merely chuckled at that retort, as if silently saying that she never had a choice to begin with.

"What do you want!.?.!" Tara screamed, still hiding her head tightly between her knees.

"You," Terra's voice suddenly turned deep and her illusion gave way to a man, his face and right eye covered by a black and orange mask. Tara, her head now lifted, stared at the man with horror, unable to move. The man merely chuckled, "I see you don't remember me."

"Am I supposed to?" Tara tried pushing herself back even further though there was a wall preventing her from doing so.

"I don't really care," he replied, pausing thoughtfully, "though I think it may be to my advantage."

"L-leave me alone," Tara stammered as she tried to think of a way to escape.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," the man place two large, powerful arms over her head, placing his hands on the wall behind her as if to cage Tara in, "in fact, if I'm correct, you just discovered that your parents weren't really your parents. In fact, you discovered that you were just living a lie." The man said in a mocking tone of voice. His left eye seemed to almost smile when he heard a shocked gasp in reply, "how do I know? I have my ways..."

Tara shook her head, afraid of where this may lead to.

"I can give you protection child. A place to stay..."

"Huh?" Tara stared at him, wide-eyed.

"You just have to accept one condition..."

**  
Chapter I: If You Only Knew**

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_A week later..._

Jump City Memorial Hospital stood proudly upon its tall hill; its very presence symbolized power and knowledge. Not many would have guessed that it held within its prestigous walls a very sick changeling and two very worried friends. Inside, Starfire forced back anxious tears from running down her cheeks, her expression wore a heavily worried look to it as she stared at a nearby wall clock, counting each minute that had passed by since their arrival. She had been waiting in the lobby room all day with Raven, who appeared more melancholy than her usual self.

"Raven, will our Beast Boy be alright?" Starfire's lips quivered, her emerald eyes twinkling, threatening to cry at any given moment.

Raven bit her lip, closing the mystery novel she had been pretending to read,"Beast Boy has been through this before, I'm sure he can make it through again."

The empath's reassurance didn't seem to have any effect on Starfire as tears began to gently flow down her cheeks, each one trickling off her chin and splashing onto the floor below. Raven thoughtfully stared at the crying Tamaranean girl before her, almost envying Starfire's ability to love and care for just about anything and everybody, even if it was for that silly little grass stain laying dormant within the room nearby. Raven herself was worried, but couldn't let her emotions get in the way, as most already knew.

"Ahem," an aged doctor entered into the room carrying several files in his old hands, "I have some good news, ladies."

"About our friend, Beast Boy?" Starfire finally smiled, wiping away some of her tears with the side of her hand.

"Yes, I'm proud to say that Garfield Logan will make a full recovery, but--"

"Oh, GLORIOUS DAY!" Starfire jumped high into a celebratory twirl, "may we go see him?"

Raven, not missing a single beat seriously looked at the old doctor, "but what?"

"Well, the boy seemed to have contracted a deadly form of the Sakutia virus," the doctor cleared his throat, "Logan seemed to know what he had. If it weren't for that primary lead, we could have very well lost him to the disease."

"So, what is that supposed to mean?" Raven stood up, suddenly fearing the worst.

"Well, Sakutia can only be found in the depths of Africa which are only carried by animals--monkeys to be exact." The man said thoughtfully, scratching his white beard in a rather confused manner.

"Are you trying to say that there's some diseased African monkey running loose in town!?" Raven gasped, immediatelly reaching for her telecommunicator. Thoughts of what could happen if a deadly epidemic began to run its course through the city suddenly sent chills down her spine.

Starfire, who was dancing with a nurse who had unfortunately tried walking past the area, stopped to turn and look at Raven with a cute look of naïvete, "and what will happen to this deadly monkey of diseases?"

"It'll most likely be disposed of." Raven said, not caring at how appalled Starfire was by such a cold statement.

"B-but, if Beast Boy can be cured, so can the monkey!" Starfire declared as she wistfully watched Raven open her telecommunicator.

"Robin, we have a problem," Raven spoke, ignoring the alien girls pleas for saving the monkey and retelling Robin what she had just discovered at the hospital. Robin and Cyborg had stayed at the tower in order to conduct a rather dangerous mission: find a clue of who or what infected Beast Boy and try not to get infected themselves.

"Yeah, I agree," Robin replied through the small device as if he somehow already knew what Raven and Starfire had just discovered, "I did some background research on Beast Boy and thought that some monkey was going around biting people but I'm starting to think otherwise."

Raven sighed a silent breath of relief, realizing that Robin was probably one of the worlds best detectives, second only to Batman himself. Though both Titan girls were relieved when they both heard that there really wasn't some rampant hell monkey killing people with a single bite, they still felt anxious as to what had caused this rare and sudden illness to reappear, "so, what exactly happened then?"

"I'm not going to come to any conclusions myself until we talk to Beast Boy," Robin looked down, as if trying to pull something out, "but I think he infected himself on purpose. I found this in his room." Robin then proceeded show a large syringe contained within a simple plastic bag.

"WHAT?!" The doctor, Raven, and Starfire yelled into the communicator, not believing their very own ears.

Raven slowly turned to the doctor, annoyance quickly twitching away at her right eyebrow as she thought about what Beast Boy could have possibly done to himself, "y-you never found bite marks, did you?"

"…no." The doctor began scratching his beard again, trying to recall anything unusual while he was treating the sick Titan.

"We're on our way," Robin promptly said before dissapearing within the small screen of the communicator.

In the next room, a sick changeling was placed carefully into a simple hospital bed. His arm had an intravenous line pierced into his arm and a heart monitoring system kept a keen eye on his vitals, gently beeping after each second. The sound began to disturb the shape shifters sleep and his eyes calmly opened. He looked around his enviroment as he forced his aching body to sit up and a warm smile crept upon his face when he laid his eyes on the numerous 'Get Well Soon' gifts found throughout his room. Some were just boring plants but others were green teddy bears wearing black and purple outfits, green cards, black and purple roses and best of all, balloons! He made a note to himself to breathe in some of the helium later whenever Starfire and Raven were in the room--surely the Tameran would be delighted by his antics and he could probably try to get some sort of smile out of Raven! Or even better, maybe he could somehow make them both breathe in helium as well! ..well, Raven sounded like wishful thinking, but it was worth a shot, right?

Beast Boy grabbed a few cards lying next to his nightstand and carefully read the contents of the first one on the pile:

_"You best get better soon, buddy--we miss you at the Tower! Signed, Cyborg P.S. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease hurry pal, that pudding of sadness is awful!_

_Beast Boy, the tower isn't the same without you, recover quickly. Signed, Robin P.S. __Now I know what you went through when Star made you swallow that Pudding of Sadness...  
_

_Signed, Starfire. I am sadded by your illness, Beast Boy! Please do the Getting of Well Soon so that you may rejoin our beloved team--it is difficult to make large quantities of my Pudding of Sadness!. _

_Do me a favor and make a hasty recovery--its been really boring at the tower without you...and distasteful. Signed, Raven." _

Beastboy chuckled, reading through the rest of the cards which happened to be from his fans. Most of them, if not all, were written in crayons and he sighed when he realized where his fanbase lied in except for one pristinely written purple card:

_"Beast Boy, _

_I heard down the grapevine that you got sick--that sucks!.!. I really do hope you feel better and I'll pray for your speedy recovery every night so you can go back to kicking some sorry villainous butt, I promise!_

_Thinking of you,__  
Tara Markov  
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX"_

The changelings heart lept into his throat when he read the signature, quickly hiding it underneath the covers when he heard the door open. To his relief, it was just his doctor, who seemed too busy with his notes to notice Beast Boy frantically rummaging through his covers.

"Ah, Garfield Logan," The young doctor looked up from his tablet, "I have cat named Garfield..."

Beast Boy groaned, "is he fat and orange?"

"Yes, how did you know?" The doctor chuckled to himself--caught by his own lame joke by another lame jokester, "anyway, would you like for me to allow your friends to enter? You've been stable for a while now but I decided to wait until you awoke before I gave them permission for entry."

"Yeah, sure, let 'em in!" Beast Boy waved both arms frantically, excited to see his friends after a long nightmarish week.

"Two of them are still here in fact," the doctor commented as he left. A few moments later, Starfire busted the door wide open, twirling into the room in mid flight before letting out scream.

"AAACK!! W-who are you and where is our friend Beast Boy!?" Starfire's eyes were wide with shock but they only served to confuse the changeling.

"Starfire, are you okay? I heard you scream and..huh?" Raven quickly followed after Starfire, her mouth hanging half open and unable to finish her sentence as she laid her gaze upon the patient laying in bed, "Beast...boy?"

"Yeah, that's me!" Beast Boy pointed a large thumb at himself, his familiar voice reaffirming that it was indeed the changeling, "...is something the matter?"

The Tameran and empath both blinked and looked at each other quizically before Raven sighed deeply, materializing a small simple mirror for the sick teen to see. Beast Boy took the mirror, shrieking as he saw a pair of startled azure eyes covered by a messy fray of blonde hair staring right back at him. He touched his peachy skin with his trembling fingers and not believing the mirror, he then proceeded to look at his hands and arms--nope, not even a single hint that they had once been green. What the heck was going on!?

"Uuuh, guys," Garfield's heart was pouding, "w-wait, I can still change, right!?" He closed his eyes and thought of an animal and the thought simple remained in his mind, "c'mooooooon," he yelled while the two girls both stared at him in confusion. The only thing that changed was the condition of the air...

_Phffffffffffft..._

Raven and Starfire's eyes widened as they both stared at a brightly blushing Garfield with silent, awkward looks on their faces as he spoke, "b-better out than in, as I always say! Hahahaha.."

"..."

"What!?"

"Beas-no, Garfield," Raven spoke in a serious tone, slicing the awkward tension in the room in half, "I see why you did this to yourself."

"Huh," Garfield deeply looked at the empath in question, "what do you mean, Rae? I didn't do aything to myself..."

"It's Raven." she curtly responded as a nearby vase with fresh roses quickly turned black before shattering to pieces, leaving its contents to fall to the floor. It was then when the ex-changeling realized that the empath was in no mood to joke around, "you purposely infected yourself, didn't you?"

Garfield quickly shook his head, honestly not knowing where Raven was getting this idea from, "of course not, why would I do that?"

"Look at yourself!" Raven cried out, her eyes threatening to turn black and destroy another defenseless item.

"I-I know," Garfield bit his lips, no knowing how he could defend himself, "oh, c'mon, you have to believe me! I would NEVER give up crime fighting and my abilities!"

Raven remained silent, her hands reaching out of her cloack to pull her hood over her head. A large black bird appeared behind her, swallowing her entire body before dissapearing, leaving Starfire and Garfield alone in the room together. The Tamaran stared at the floor with interest, twiddling her thumbs as the thought of something to say. Garfield merely sighed, but he wasn't going to let Raven ruin his evening.

"Hey, Star!" Garfield chimed, pointing to the balloons behind her, "want me to show you something really cool!?"

**End of Chapter I: If You Only Knew**

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**A/N: Alrighty, so what do you think!? Let me know by clicking on that link below! Pleeeease? I really appreciate the feedback as I would love to know how I can improve my writing or if the story itself is any good (please let me know if it sucks and tell me why so that I may work on it some more--I really want this to be succesful), thanks!**

**I know I said the first two chapters would be similar, if not identical to my original story, but I lied. From here on out, this story will no longer bear a resemblance to it in the least bit. I'm still tempted to complete the Given story, though it would be strange to have two fics that start off the same, but suddenly veer off into way different directions.  
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	3. What if?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any characters related to the DC universe. **

**ENJOY!  
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**Chapter II  
Traitor : What if..?**

With a faint smirk on his face, Robin opened his telecommunicator. "Contacting, Jericho. Do you read me? Jericho, are you there?" The boy wonder knew that the fellow honorary Titan was a mute, but he needed to talk to him nevertheless. When the curly-cued blond finally answered with a gentle smile on his face, Robin continued, "Hey, Jericho, we need your help; one of our allies, Beast Boy to be exact, is down for an undetermined amount of time and since you're the only Titan who isn't with a team, I thought maybe you could join ours while Beast Boy recovers."

Jericho places a thin finger to his lips and looks up thoughtfully before giving Robin a large grin, nodding in agreement.

"So you'll come?"

Jericho nodded again happily.

"Great!" Robin's smirk grew, as if he already knew that the boy wouldn't refuse, "I'll send one of the Titans to your location up in the mountains to pick you up. I'm glad you're joining!" With a simple _click_ the one-sided conversation was over and the Boy Wonder stared triumphantly at Cyborg who was currently driving both of them in the T-car towards the hospital Garfield was in.

"I'm glad he accepted, man," Cyborg said while turning his car into the parking lot of the hospital, "I was worried that we were going to be short handed!"

Robin simply nodded, a grim look now taking over his face, "until then though, we have more important matters to take care of." Robin stepped out of the car, looking to his friend again as he got out, "How are those results coming along?"

"It'll be just a few more minutes." Cyborg replied, locking the T-car behind him. He currently had the dreaded syringe within him, analyzing it for fingerprints that may help them solve this case quickly.

"Hey, guys," Raven muttered as the two guys neared the hospital entrance.

"Hey, Rae!" Cyborg waved enthusiastically before adding, "Is something the matter? You're not really the sunshiny type of girl."

Raven simply raised a brow before realizing that she was standing uncharacteristically outside in the fresh, Spring sun. The empath simply shook her head, "Nothing. Just getting some fresh air, that's all."

"We understand, you've been waiting inside that hospital a lot longer than any of us have--fresh air is imperative." Robin simply smirked, leading the way back to the hospital and towards Garfield's room.

"HAHAH!" A high pitched squeal of delight resonated from within the room, causing the three Titans just outside the room to give each other confused stares.

"You sound like a chipmunk, Star!" Another high pitched squeal came out of the room in response. They indeed both sounded like chipmunks.

"A chip and a monk? But how are they related?" The other voice responded.

"S-star?" Robin finally opened the door, still looking as confused as ever. Much to his surprise, he found both Starfire and Garfield with balloons pinched between their fingers.

"Oh, Robin!" Starfire happily waved her green balloon in the air, clearly high on helium."Why did you never tell me the joys of breathing in helium?"

Robin merely chuckled, realizing that Starfire sounded really cute in her little _'chipmunk' _voice, "Well, it's really a matter of opinion. And besides, you'll pass out if you do it too much."

Starfire's eyes widened with shock, "Then I must take care to not do it too much!"

"Aww, c'mon Star, we've only been doing it for the past hour!" Garfield flailed, his voice now returning to normal.

"That's already too much," Raven only rolled her eyes though it was easy to tell that she was mildly amused by their antics.

"Hey, the results are in!" Cyborg chimed, printing out a short list of names from his chest, "let's see..."

"Results? From what?" Garfield stared at his friend with curiosity, "What's going on guys?"

"Cyborg is analyzing the syringe that infected you with the virus for fingerprints." Robin replied, impatiently waiting for Cyborg to read the results out loud.

"H-huh? This can't be right..." Cyborg frowned, hesitant to read the contents of the paper out loud.

"Well?" Garfield's cheery mood soon began to leave him--he could read Cyborg's face like a book and he knew that he wasn't going to like what he was going to hear.

"Okay, guys, you better brace yourselves:

First fingerprint:

Garfield "Beast Boy" Logan

ID #: 1944911

Second fingerprint:

Tara "Terra" Markov

ID #: 9347292 "

"T-that traitor!" Raven hissed, her eyes quickly turning black with her power. Her hand curled into a tight fist as thoughts of the geomancer brought about hurtful memories that she had just recently learned to forgive, then traitor turns around shatters what time had just healed...

"WHAT!?" Garfield shook his head in disbelief, not again! "No, Cy, there must be a mistake!"

Cyborg simply shook his head as he sadly looked at his friend, "No mistakes, pal. The analysis is 99.9% accurate."

Garfield's breath deepened as his fingers soon touched the get well card that Tara had so affectionately sent, not knowing what to do. A part of him felt deeply betrayed--again, and wanted to destroy all of her pictures, her letters and push any good memories he had of her to the furthest back of his mind until they were coldly forgotten. But as he gently touched the outline of the card beneath his sheets, he realized that there was something more to it. There had to be. Garfield also did not want to repeat the same mistake he had made the first time Terra had betrayed them--no, it wasn't going to happen! He had spent countless night thinking "What if..?" What if I hadn't turned my back on her? What if I had kept my promise to be her friend no matter what? What if I had just taken her hand, told her that everything was alright, told her that she was being led into the wrong path, and he would forgive her no matter what? What if...what if!?

No more what ifs.

"I can't believe we trusted her to roam free in the city," Raven muttered much more calmly now. Everyone in the room could easily tell that she seemed to be heavily affected by the results of the analysis.

"We'll have to take her in for questioning." Robin crossed his arms, a stony look now on his face.

"No, Terra is our friend," Starfire held both her hands towards her chest. She seemed to share the feelings that Garfield had. "There must be a reason!"

"We won't know until we go get her," Robin stared glumly out the window.

"I think that's going to be more difficult than it should be..." Cyborg was staring out into the hallway where there was a television on the corner of the nurses' station.

"Huh, why's that?" Robin quickly followed Cyborg's stare, his mouth opening with debelief, "Great. Just great."

On the television, a newscaster could be seen on the screen doing her daily report of missing people and in the picture right next to her, a photograph of Tara smiling bashfully towards the camera was plastered right on the screen, "Today I'm here to report on Tara Markov, missing from her quaint Jump City home. She's been missing for more than 9 days and there are still no signs of her whereabouts--if you know where she may be, please call..."

"Garfield caught his illness about 8 days ago." Raven breathed deeply, trying harder to supress her anger. Much to Garfield's dismay, the evidence was beginning to stack up against Terra but he was more than determined to believe her innocence until proven otherwise.

No, he wasn't going to give up on her.

Not anymore.

**End Chapter II  
Traitor : What if..?**

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**A/N: Hey, everybody! This chapter was semi-rushed because I wanted to get started with the good stuff! I'm quite excited about the next chapter! I would like to take the time thank Byn and TrixieStyx for reviewing! Shizuku Tsukishima749, thanks for yours--your review actually motivated me to get the next chapter going! X3 Also, anybody else reading, please let me know how this story is going (Does it suck? Is it awesome? Let me know!)**

On a side note, Jericho is indeed necessary for my story. That is all I'm willing to say now. 


	4. Raise the Earth: The Geomancer Returns

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any characters belonging to the DC universe. **

**For those curious, I did post this chapter and then removed it! Reason being, I didn't like who I chose to start the whole mess/adventure. He just kind of stood there as a substitute until I could find a better replacement, you know? Luckily, I did! **

**Enjoy!  
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**Chapter III  
Raise the Earth: Return of the Geomancer!**

Tara's breathe was fast and deep as she hid behind a large pine tree, beads of sweat slid past her cheeks and the blond gulped. When the sounds of footsteps lightly walking across a pile of dead leaves were heard at a nearby distance the teen practically halted her breathing and she jammed her eyes shut, wishing that her heart wasn't pounding away so loudly at her chest. The steps were coming closer and Tara knew she had to make a move, but what!?

"Found you!" A voice, lightly dipped in a pretty French accent, exclaimed.

"GRAAAH!" Tara dove out of her hiding spot into a flying air kick, attempting to give her chaser a face full of foot.

"HAH!" The other teen simply smirked, her glossy black lips reflecting small shards of moonlight that had managed to escape from the myriad of branches blanketing the sky above them. "Take this!" She grabbed Tara's ankle right before it landed on her face and with surprising strength, the girl forces the other to rip through the air above her until the blond face planted the damp ground. "Come, Tara, you can do better!"

"Grrr, Gemini!" Tara growled, her eyes flickering a golden yellow. She quickly pushed herself off the ground and turned to Gemini who was tucking a piece of long black hair behind her ear, patiently waiting for Tara's next attack. The blond began running towards her at full speed with a tightly clenched right fist in the air.

"A full front attack?" Gemini nearly laughed, easily catching Tara's fist with her left palm and retaliating with a straight, powerful right jab to her gut. Tara let out a scream of pain, immediately curling over her injury, she began gasping for the air that was so viciously punched out of her.

"ENOUGH!" A deep voice echoed out of the forest around the girls and the two teens desperately searched the shadows around them. "Terra, you know better than to do a full frontal assault."

"I-I know..." Tara blushed, looking at the ground with shame. "But, Deathstroke, I don't understand why I _have_ to do this!"

"The real reason will come to you in time," Deathstroke finally came out of the shadows as he walked into a large beam of moonlight, his arms crossed before his large chest. "But, as for me, you must earn your keep if you are to stay with me. Or do you wish to return to your parents?"

A chill ran down Tara's spine as memories of her parents surged into her mind. She thought about their experiments, their lies and the uncertainty of what lay in store for her if she had stuck around to find out what it was that they were trying to achieve with her. She shook her head, trying not to think about what was better--living with Deathstroke or living with a pair of mad scientists?

"Good." Deathstroke sounded pleased.

"I thought so." Gemini also seemed pleased by her response.

"Gemini?" Tara looked questioningly to girl before her, "Why were you so aggressive while we were sparring?"

The teen simply smirked, taking a moment to respond carefully, "You owed me one, remember?"

Tara's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it, averting her gaze to Deathstroke now.

"Lets go. You shall continue tomorrow." Deathstroke turned, leading the way uphill until the trio had reached a complete clearance free of trees. At the very top was a small, broken down house with many windows boarded up and rotted holes in several places but it granted a beautiful view of the twinkling Jump City just a few miles away. Tired, Tara was the first to walk into her new home, feeling her way to her room in the darkness. Without bothering to change out of her dirty clothes, Tara tossed herself into her small but warm bed immediately falling asleep.

Outside, Deathstroke stood at the entryway, blocking Gemini from entering. With his back facing the dark teen, he says, "You know, you've been improving greatly."

"So?" Gemini crossed her arms, almost insulted that the man would be impressed by something that was supposed to be expected from her. "Would you expect anything less from deh daughter of Madame Rouge?"

"No. Of course not." There seemed to be a smile in his voice which caused Gemini to eye him suspiciously. "But, Terra herself has been progressing quite rapidly as well. If all goes well, we will be able to recruit just one more ally into our group."

"And we'll finally be able to go on missions?" Gemini's eyes brightened, excited at the prospect of doing something other than just training. "Detstruk, I do not understand! Why can we not go now? I am powerful enough to take on deh wretched Teen Titans!"

"The Titans are not to be underestimated!" Deathstroke sharply turned to glare at Gemini. "Terra has yet to recuperate her powers and having one more ally will guarantee victory during your trials."

Gemini frowned, "So, who are you thinking to be our new recruit?"

"Nobody yet, but I have a feeling that someone will join our rank very soon." Deathstroke assured, before turning to glance back at Gemini. "Sleep. " The man ordered. "You will be waking early again tomorrow again for more training."

"What!?" Gemini nearly fell. "But we have been training for several days straight!"

"We are close to unleashing Terra's powers," Deathstroke paused for a moment, "she's so close, I can feel it. I want you to be very aggressive with her tomorrow again, and if you don't turn it up a notch then I will be forced to jump in."

Gemini's black eyes widened with shock but she only nodded and left the area.

The next morning, Tara was the last to wake, her sleep disturbed by the warm gentle rays of the sun and the singing birds outside. She pushed her self up, rubbing her eyes open as she yawned. "Mmmm..."

"Morning, Terra." Deathstroke opened the door without knocking, almost as if he knew the precise moment that the blond had woke.

"Huh?" Tara grogilly pulled her brown leather jacket over her.

"You are to start training now. Go."

"But, we haven't even eaten break-.."

"GO!!" Deathstroke's voice reeked with fury, shutting Tara up immediately. The girl hopped off of her bed and ran outside, following the path down to the forest ahead. Looking around her enviroment for any signs of Gemini, she heard soft _cruch_ from the leaves which made Tara turn, surprised to see the dark teen right behind her, ready to throw a nasty punch into her face. Tara drops to the ground, propelling a right leg into a sweeping low kick, tripping Gemini straight to the ground. Gemini simply smirks, catching herself with ease, she retaliated with a uppercut to Tara's chin. The blond stumbles back but immediately recovers, throwing an easily blocked right jab, leaving Gemini open for a nasty flying knee into her chest.

"GUH!" The dark teen spat out as she tumbled backwards. She wiped her mouth with her black gloved arm and smirked, "alright, Tah-ra, I've been holding back but it is time..."

"Hm?" Tara gazed at her partner with confusion. "What do you mea-aaaaah!!"

Gemini back-flipped, her action kicking Tara far back, but the the assailant was not finished. The dark teen immediately stretched a long limb, catching the blond before she landed on the grass and hurled her body in the opposite direction. With abilities gifted from her mother, Gemini used both arms to pick Tara up from a good distance away and began roping them around her body into a deadly squeeze.

"NGAAAAAAGH!" Tara's breath was being shoved out of her lungs as was any will power to keep fighting. She glared at Gemini through her blurry vision though it seemed to be getting darker. Darker...darker.

_"I hope you're not going to just give up like that..." A sweet, familiar came from behind Tara. _

_"Yeah, you're more powerful than that!" Added the much more wicked voice. _

_"Huh, who are you guys?" Tara turned, shocked to see two different versions of herself stand before her. One she had already met once before: the girl clad in armor and bandages but the other seemed much nicer. She had a butterfly brooch keeping her hair up, a regular tee and shorts. Could she be..?_

_"Yeah, I'm also Terra!" The gentle blond quirked, giggling lightly. "You're forgetting something, Terra!"_

_The other, more evil looking Terra merely frowned, crossing her arms as she said, "Kick her ass. Seriously."_

_Tara shook her head, not knowing what they were talking about, "But I'm just a regular school girl! I don't know what you're both talking about!"_

_"Feel the Earth!" The nicer Terra closed her eyes, hugging her chest as she talked._

_"Harness its force!" The other Terra clenched her fist._

_"It wants to help!"_

_"Use it to your advantage!"_

_"Embrace its warmth!"_

_"Revel in its power!"_

_"You have what you need inside yourself!"_

_"Now go out there show her what TERRA can do!"_

_Tara took a step back but the two Terra's began to walking towards her, quickly catching up to her. They both grabbed her and began merging with her, a bright golden light shone from the three until it finally died down and only Tara was left standing. She looked at her bare hands and a wispy aura of yellow glowed around her until it finally disappeared. _

"GRAAAAAAAH!!" With new found strength, Terra woke up, her blue eyes replaced by a passionate golden glow and her hair suddenly flew upwards with power. Gemini's eyes widened with shock as a pillar made of rock began taking Terra up into the sky. The surprised Gemini held onto the blond from the ground, stretching her arms to its limits as the girl kept rising high into the sky. "I won't go easy on you either!!!" The blond cried out, breaking her earthen pillar, she rode the giant rock to ground, using the arms wrapped around her as a direct guide to Gemini.

_CRASH_!

The rock crumbled to pieces as soon as it hit the surprised Gemini, immediately letting go of her squeeze around Tara. The geomancer smirks, her eyes still glowing ardently with power, she summons forth several small rocks, pelting each one at her opponent. With no time to rest, Gemini hops to a stand, avoiding the rain of Earth showering down on her with just near misses. She dodged, streched, and looped out of the way of each one as she made a mad dash towards Terra, uppercutting the maiden of earth swiftly at the chin with a power force. Instead of falling back, much to Gemini's surprise, the blond merely stumbles a few steps, wipes the trickle of blood off her mouth with her sleeve and counters with a forward punch. If it was an ordinary punch, Gemini would have been able to block it no problem, but the geomancer summoned the Earth to reinforce her attack.

"AAGH!" Gemini screamed, falling into a puddle of mud.

"That is enough!" Deathstroke pronounced as he entered the battle arena, clearly pleased with himself.

"Mmmm..." Gemini held onto her head, "T-that was some punch. I wasn't expecting this much from you!"

Terra merely blinked, her golden glow now fading away, she began to stare at her hands in awe. "Woah..."

"You did not know you could do that, child?" Deathstroke chuckled.

"O-of course not!" Terra then turned to Gemini, who seemed to be struggling to get out of the puddle. She runs over to her, holding an open hand out for the dark teen to grab onto. Gemini merely smiles and grabs it, pulling herself out of the mud.

"I was caught off guard by your sudden increase in power," Gemini said, trying to remove the mud off of her, "but I will be prepared next time. I will not lose."

Terra was breathless and exhausted but she managed a faint but victorious smirk, "but that was my first win!"

"And it will not happen again!"

"Enough chitter-chatter." Deathstroke seemed annoyed. "You are both filthy. Go to the lake and clean up." The man turned, walking towards the house until he suddenly stopped and turned his attention to a far distance towards the city. The two girls notice his gaze and looked in the same direction to see a man dressed in a black tuxedo walking towards them. "Wintergreen..."

"Huh?" Tara eyed the newcomer--she had never seen him before.

"Who is this Wintergreen?" Gemini shared the same curiosity as Tara did.

"He is a servant of mine and a good friend." Deathstroke simply said. He waited for the man to arrive, his arms crossed as he patiently waited for the older man to close in on the small group.

"Slade," Wintergreen finally arrived; he seemed rather distressed, "I'm afraid I have bad news, sir."

Deathstroke eyed the man suspiciously behind his mask, "What?"

"I have a message from Red X," Wintergreen waits for a response from the silent Deathstroke before continuing, "he says that he wants to see you."

"Hahahah!" Deathstroke, with his arms still crossed, laughed mockingly at the mention of some lowly anti-hero. "You are wasting my time, Wintergreen."

"That's not all," Wintergreen then turned to eye Gemini and Tara carefully, "he has Lillian."

Deathstroke had suddenly become quiet and a strange silence befell the group. After careful thought, he coldly responds, "Let the Titans take care of her."

Wintergreen then shook his head, "he also said that he would murder her and her wretched daughter if you didn't come for them."

The strange silence continued to linger like a bad a headache and both Gemini and Tara could have both sweared that Deathsroke had gasped in shock at the mention of a daughter. They both stared at his statuesque figure until he finally replied, "Fine. It will be a good opportunity to test Gemini and Terra's training."

Wintergreen faintly smiled, "I know exactly what it is you are actually thinking, sir."

"The fool, he has no idea who he is dealing with..." Deathstroke seemed to be in a really bad mood now as he turned to glare at the girls behind him. "I told you two to go clean yourselves up! You both want to be punished..."

"N-no!!" Both teens suddenly stood straight up, fear pounding at their hearts as they both scampered off into the forest, following the path to a lake nearby.

**End of Chapter III  
Raise the Earth: Return of the Geomancer!**

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A/N: Alrighty, what did you guys think? I was worried that I may have made Slade a bit OOC and I really tried my hardest to make sure he never lost his cruel, cold demeanor (though I think I may have had a slight fail in that department). But don't worry, he won't soften much (and by much, I mean, he's still going to be an evil asshole). I just want the reader to maybe get the feeling that Deathstroke/Slade isn't just some evil villain, but a person too (one that you may grow to hate/love depending on your POV).


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